Yesterday vs today; graduating in the early 70's

My generation was the generation in between. In the generation previous to mine, only very wealthy people went to college--which is to say, most people didn't, nor were they expected to go. In the succeeding generation pretty much everyone went, except the very poor or the very ignorant. My generation being between those two, was sort of half and half. Some of my generation went off to fight the war in Viet Nam, mostly via the draft. Others who were wealthy enough went to college, some to avoid the draft, and some actually wanting to get an education in their desired field. At this time, college made a lot more sense. The world was only just beginning to rocket through quick changes, and a degree was not obsolete before it was finished at that time.

The myriad of scholarships and financial aid available today was not available at that time. This is not to say that nothing was available, but let's just say it was way less than today. Because you could potentially avoid the draft by being in college, college began to look very attractive to people who would not otherwise have even considered going. If they were not wealthy enough, or the few shining stars that could get the limited scholarships available at the time, they would have to borrow money to go.

Those who didn't go to war, or go to college, got married, got a job and began their families. This was the norm and the expectation. College was completely optional.

As for me, most of my adult life, I have refused to get into debt. If I don't have the money, I don't spend it. If I put something on a charge card, it means I have money in the bank to cover it. At the end of the month, I pay it off. Once I lived for three years using a bicycle because I refused to get a car loan, even though it would have been within my reach to repay it. I have always worked. I have never gone on any kind of public assistance. (I do not blame those who must; sometimes there is little choice--but sometimes it is simply a question of poor choices, or refusal to work.)

For me, the idea of going to college was out of the question, at the end of my high school years. I came from a family of nine children. We were not wealthy. My father was a master sergeant in the Air Force. The expectation was that as soon as we finished HS, we would head out on our own. We were only too happy to do this, having been abused as children; we wanted out, and we wanted out fast. No one stayed in our house a minute longer than they had to.

The day after HS ended, I was moving into my apt., and completely supporting myself.  About five years passed, and I began to think about college. I moved to another city, and signed up at the Jr. College. The first semester I got straight A's, as I had planned. I marched into the counseling office with my report card, and left with a scholarship that would pay for all my books the second semester. I went the second semester, and that was it.

The whole time I was attending college, I worked a minimum wage job and just barely got by. Even though I was sharing an apt. with three other women (two sisters and a friend), we all found it difficult financially. I decided that I liked to eat more than I liked college, and dropped out after that semester. I also felt frankly, that although the degree would be nice, the classes were pretty much a waste of time. They were requiring me to memorize facts and spit them back out on tests--facts about things I was not passionate about, and things that had no practicality that I could see for my future life. (Okay, there was one exception: I took the typing class twice! It was the one practical class that has helped to this day, as I often spend hours on the computer.)

I did drop out of college, but I never dropped out of education. I like one of the sayings now written into various schools' creeds, that their purpose is to train their students to be "lifelong learners."  I am a lifelong learner.

After leaving college, on my own, I became fluent in two additional languages, Spanish, and Sign Language. When I say "on my own", I mean that I did not learn them from a course. I continued my usual voracious reading. When personal computers came along, I got one and learned how to use it effectively, becoming a minor "geek." I am constantly learning something new. I study. I research. I have a passion to learn. It has always been this way with me. The difference in college and self-directed learning is that one can afford to focus on the subjects about which one is passionate.

My job involved moving to a developing country. There I began a school for the deaf. There was no curriculum, so I had to create one. By that time, the internet was becoming an excellent resource. I researched constantly on methods of deaf education, on studies that had been done, on language acquisition, autism and a myriad of other issues that came up daily at the school.

The point is, I didn't stop learning, simply because I dropped out of college. I will match my knowledge against any college educated person. The only difference? I cannot get many jobs I am in every other way qualified for without a little piece of paper!

If I had gone to college after HS and gotten a degree, I would have graduated in 1976. That college degree would be totally obsolete right now!  Still, it would be both acceptable and required for many jobs!  Tell me, employer, would you really rather I had the 1976 degree, even without the life-long learning? Yet you would hire me if I did!

Requiring college for many jobs is simply out of date. Without a doubt, there are jobs where pre-training, aka college, is essential. But for so many more, just put it down as a requisite without reason, without thought. It's a given. Why? Well, it's "always" done that way. Funny that all those college educated people who set the requirements for hiring think so in-the-box!

If I ever begin a company. I will not fall into that trap. Knowledge, not college, will be the requisite, or at the least, the ability to learn the job well.

PS.  Just one additional ironic fact. I once took one of those tests that tells you what kind of job you are best suited for, and the result was? A college professor! Isn't life funny?!